WTO's 12th ministerial conference (MC12) held in Geneva

Highlights:

• The 12th Ministerial Conference of World Trade Organization (WTO) started from June 12 to June 15, 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland.
• It was due to take place in 2021 but got postponed due to covid-19 pandemic.
• Agenda:
• Chief of World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, expressed optimism that over 100 trade ministers would be achieving one or two global deals this week.
• They will discuss about vaccine distribution, trade facilitation, export restrictions, and improved transparency in medical supply chains.
• Saving Fish Stock- Apart from that, ministers would also take up the issue of fisheries sector, where there is anti-development text in fisheries subsidies.
• Prohibitions (Temporary in nature) on customs duties on electronic transmissions will also be discussed.
• Developed countries are likely to push a “WTO reform” agenda, which threatens the basis of WTO namely multilateralism and consensus.
• Two members of WTO will also issue a joint declaration on improving gender-disaggregated data, for ensuring gender-mainstreaming and better trade policymaking in WTO’s development work.
• Around 50 civil society from 22 countries are representing in person at MC12 namely Indonesia, India, Philippines, Pakistan, Ghana, Pacific Islands, Morocco, Malawi, Uganda, South Africa, Argentina, Zimbabwe, USA, Brazil, Uruguay, France, Belgium, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, and the UK.
• WTO Ministerial Conference is the highest decision-making body of the WTO.